Some semiconductor devices employ silicon-on-insulator (SOI) in place of conventional single layer semiconductor substrate in semiconductor manufacturing, especially in microelectronics, to reduce parasitic device capacitance such that device performance can be improved. SOI substrate includes a top silicon (Si) surface layer separated from a support or “handle” Si substrate by an insulator layer. The insulator layer includes, for example, silicon dioxide, and is usually referred to as the buried oxide (BOX) layer. Components or devices, such as transistors, are formed in the top Si surface layer and the insulator layer isolates the top Si surface layer from the support Si substrate. Typically, the support Si substrate of the SOI substrate is not electrically connected to any other structure. The support Si substrate of the SOI substrate, thus, is in a “floating” configuration and static charges may easily build up in the support Si substrate during normal chip operation. These static charges may undesirably disturb the normal operation of the chips or devices.
The disclosure is directed to grounding of the SOI substrate such that normal operations of the chip will not be affected.